SPORTS

Punjab sub-junior badminton begins today
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, September 30
Raj Kumar of Ludhiana and Komalpreet of Jalandhar have been top seeded in the boys and girls’ sections, respectively, in the four-day Punjab State sub-junior Badminton Championship which begins at the Shastri Hall of Guru Nanak Stadium tomorrow.

Addressing the mediapersons here today, Mr R.S. Behal, honorary secretary, Ludhiana District Badminton Association (LDBA), said this year’s edition was dedicated to the memory of international shuttler Harish Chander, son of the caretaker of the Shastri Hall, Mr Babu Lal, who died in a road accident near Kolkata in June this year. More than 150 boys and girls will be taking part in the u-10, u-13 and u-16 years categories in this tournament and around 200 matches will be played on knock-out basis, he said.

The Punjab Badminton Association has appointed two coaches, Mr Kartar Singh, sports officer, Jalandhar, and Mr Charanjeet Singh, badminton coach, PAU, Ludhiana, as refrees for the tournament.

The performance during this championship will be taken into consideration while selecting the Punjab squads for the sub-junior national championship scheduled to be held at Chandigarh from October 10 to 16, Mr Behal said.

Mr Chand Kapoor, President, LDBA, along with other office-bearers of the association and Mr Gianinder Singh, senior sports officer (badminton), Ludhiana, were present on the occasion.

The following is list of seeded players for this tournament: (Boys) singles (u-10) — Gurneet Singh of Jalandhar 1, Antarpreet Singh of Ludhiana 2, and Amit Bhasin of Ludhiana 3; (u-10 doubles) — Antarpreet Singh and Amit Bhasin of Ludhiana 1 and Gurneet Singh and Akashdeep of Jalandhar 2; (u-13 singles) — Raj Kumar of Ludhiana 1, Bob Sharma of Patiala 2, Anand Tewari of Ludhiana 3 and Pranav Chopra of Ludhiana 4; (u-13 doubles) — Raj Kumar and Pranav Chopra of Ludhiana 1, Bob Sharma of Patiala and Anand Tiwari of Ludhiana 2; (u-16 doubles) — Gurbaksh Singh of Ludhiana 1, Navjot Singh of Amritsar 2; Ashutosh Prabhakar of Ludhiana 3, Anandbadh Sharnma of Jalandhar 4, Aslam of Sangrur 5, Raj Kumar of Ludhiana 6, Bob Sharma of Patiala 7 and Avish Makol of Jalandhar 8.

Girls (u-13 singles) — Komalpreet of Jalandhar 1 and Shweta Wadhwa of Amritsar 2; (u-13 doubles) — Kamalpreet of Jalandhar and Steffi of Ludhiana 1, Ritika and Sanchi of Sangrur 2; (u-16 singles) — Saniya Sareen of Amritsar 1 and Komalpreet of Patiala 2; (u-16 doubles) — Komalpreet and Shruti of Patiala 1, Zenia and Simran of Sangrur 2.

Fencing meet

KHAMANO: Chief Parliamentary Secretary Harbans Lal today inaugurated the 10th district-level fencing championship at Government Senior Secondary School, Khamano. He was welcomed at the venue by association chairman Jagdeep Rana, Principal of the school Bhag Singh, staff and members of the association.

Dr Harbans Lal announced a grant of Rs 71,000 for the development work at school, a generator set and grant to construct a common room for girl students. He also honoured six players of the school who had taken part in the international competitions in the fencing. 

Misappropriation of funds alleged
Our Reporter

Ludhiana, September 30
A group of former players has joined the issue of mis-appropriation of funds by office-bearers of the Ludhiana District Badminton Association (LDBA).

They alleged that Mr Chand Kapoor and Mr R.S. Behal, president and general secretary, resepectively, of the LDBA along with its senior vice presidents, Mr Surinder Kapoor and Mr S.P. Malik, joint secretary, Mr Gianinder Singh had mis-appropriated the funds collected by the association for the benefit of the former national champion, Rajesh Dhir.

Levelling charges of misuse of funds during a press conference here today, Mr Kedar Nath Malhotra, vice-president of the LDBA, Arun Dhand, former champion, Ravi Jain, Jai Parkash and Anupam Kumaria all members of the association, said that they had written to the parent body the Punjab Badminton Association a number of times for restraining the local body, headed by Mr Chand Kapoor from organising any tournament, meeting or other function but the group managed to delay the decision.

Mr Malhotra said the balance sheets of the association had not been tabled for some time and appealed that until the same was not approved by the general house, they should be stopped to collect the funds. A case has also been filed in the court urging it to stop the present body of LDBA to pose itself as the true body and also instruct the Punjab Badminton Association not to deal with it, he added

When asked whether they would allow to conduct the Harish Chander Memorial Punjab State Sub Junior Badminton Championship scheduled to start here from October 1, Mr Malhotra said that since the meet is being dedicated to the memory of former international shuttler from Ludhiana, they would not disrupt it. However, they would stage demonstration on all the four days of the tournament and burn effigies of the organisers.